Võilaid or Butter Islet is half-connected to
Muhu island which is known as a port of Saaremaa. At least that is how most tourists
treat Muhu island.

Internet does not say why butter. Only that the
name is related to nearby Võiküla (Butter village). There’s a stone road from WWI
in Võiküla

The islet is uninhabited except for 40 something
Estonian horses and the same amount of cattle. They are supposed to eat and
trample enough to keep the area suitable for some plants and birds that are
under nature protection. Obviously they don’t trample enough so that volunteers
from Estonian Nature Fund have to help them.

The main reason is dunlin (Calidris alpina schinzii)
who needs open area for nesting so that
no-one could sneak close. One third of the Baltic Sea dunlin population nests
in Estonia.

For two days we cut
juniper and build four huge piles. Lot of thorns. I don’t like the idea of cutting wood but
we do have more juniper than dunlin.

We were supposed to
live on the islet and burn the juniper but since it has been extremely hot and
dry making fire is not allowed and we live in Tihuse tourist farm. Transport to
the island and back is with a tractor through thick and smelly mud.

Horses come to greet
us, shit everywhere and leave. They are young and belong to the same Tihuse
farm, spending the first 4-5 years of their childhood roaming wild about the
islet. There are also two old adult horses to teach them manners.

First day is sizzling
hot, on the second day thunder clouds pass us left and right. We test three
different swimming places and one mysterious stomach disease. Water is very
shallow in most places around here.